Huskies basketball roster review, Part I

With the season over, time to take a look back. In this post, we’ll start to breakdown the roster. The class listed is what the player will be in the 2010-11 season.

Tyreese Breshers
Redshirt sophomore
3 ppg., 2.6 rebounds
The good: He put a year under his belt. The redshirt freshman started much of the season during which he played against softer and tougher competition. Breshers cracked double digits twice, both in non-conference play. Breshers is strong and able to clear space in the post.

The bad: Breshers fouled the opposition at an alarming rate. He committed 89 personal fouls and collected 88 rebounds. That’s not the ratio Washington is looking for. Breshers averaged a foul every 3.8 minutes on the floor. It’s little wonder he played more than 20 minutes in a game twice and less than 10 minutes 16 times.What’s next: Better fitness, better motor. Breshers came into the season after not playing for nearly 18 months because of injury. That was not an excuse at the end of the year when he was still unable to stay in games or play with desperation. At the very least, Breshers should be an effective rebounder because of his ability to move people out of the way. Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said he expects significant improvement next year from Breshers. So much so, that the coach referred to him as a “new face.”

Matthew Bryan-Amaning
Senior
8.8 ppg., 5.9 rpg.
The good: The junior got things going for an extended stretch at the end of the season. His speed at his size showed when he ran the floor for tomahawk dunks or blocked a shot. His post moves began to fall and he simply played harder later in the season.The bad: It didn’t happen all year. It was in waves. His free-throw shooting also went in reverse after a significant increase from his freshman to sophomore seasons.What’s next: Doing it all year. Bryan-Amaning will be expected to pick up some of the scoring and rebounding lost with Quincy Pondexter’s graduation. Continuing to get stronger will be an offseason priority.

Abdul Gaddy came to Washington with high expectations. (Joshua Trujillo/Seattlepi.com)

Abdul Gaddy
Sophomore
3.9 ppg., 2.3 apg.
The good: Gaddy was calm on the court. He has an exceptional demeanor for someone so young. He also has a frame that will just get stronger heading into next season. He just turned 18, but is 6 foot 3 and 190 pounds. When he decided to breakdown an opponent on the dribble, he often made exquisite moves and scored layups.The bad: Like Breshers, fouling at an alarming rate. Gaddy committed 86 personal fouls and made just 58 field goals. He was overmatched on defense all the time. His improvement on that end was limited and his lack of lateral quickness was surprising. His shooting was poor. He shot 41.7 percent from the field, 56.4 percent from the free-throw line and 15 percent from behind the three-point line.What’s next: More aggressiveness. Gaddy started all season, that’s good. But he was ineffective for much of it and had a hard time staying on the floor. He constantly deferred while trying to fulfill his point guard duties. He needs to fix his jumper or his confidence in it, whichever is causing him to shoot such a poor percentage. His teammates will be more comfortable with him next season, which will help Gaddy’s numbers. Romar also said his confidence was low and he may have been surprised by the level of competition early in the season. “There’s no question he will have much better seasons individually than he had this year,” Romar said. “I think he learned a lot about himself. The innate abilities that he has — running a team, passing the basketball, understanding tempo — those aren’t things that he has to work on. Those things are at a high, high level.” In the past, the coach has said players need to believe they’re are the “baddest dude out here.” It remains to be seen if Gaddy has that instinct lingering inside.

Darnell Gant
Redshirt junior
2.5 ppg., 2.4 ppg.
The good: Versatile defense was key in several games. He was crucial in the 15-point recovery against Marquette in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Despite reduced minutes, he improved his field-goal percentage.The bad: Gant was a starter as a redshirt freshman, a role he could not hold as a sophomore. His difficulty boxing out larger players made him a a liability at times.What’s next: Continued work on his midrange game. Continued strength building. Gant is fleet and long, that’s why he fits in Romar’s system well. He’s willing to put in the work. Prior to practice he worked and worked on his midrange jumper knowing he would be left open when on the floor.